‘Suspicious’ Activity at North Korea Nuclear Complex

Recent satellite images of North Korea’s main nuclear complex show suspicious activity that could be linked to re-processing plutonium for additional nuclear bombs, a US think tank said on Tuesday.

Analysis of the images focused on exhaust plumes from a steam plant used to heat a radiochemical laboratory facility at the Yongbyon complex.

The facility is used for processing plutonium from a five-megawatt reactor at Yongbyon into weapons-grade fissile material.

Whether the exhaust plumes mean “re-processing additional plutonium is under way or will be in the near future remains unclear”, analysts at the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University concluded.

However, they noted a recent statement by US National Intelligence Director James Clapper that North Korea could be ready to extract weapons-grade plutonium from the nearby reactor’s spent fuel rods in a matter of weeks. (Read more from “‘Suspicious’ Activity at North Korea Nuclear Complex” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.